Review: Wet N Wild Mega Last Matte Lipsticks

Today I am reviewing the Wet N Wild Mega Last Matte Lipsticks, they sell for around $3 CAD at most major drugstores. I picked up Think Pink a month ago or so, and recently picked up three more because these are quite good for the price. They come in a variety of colours and are a matte finish. The packaging is quite cheap looking, and the lipstick bullet does not roll down all the way (it's all the way down in the picture) so it gets caught and smears on the plastic part often. I have to be extra careful when opening and closing. However, you can't expect awesome packaging with these, they had to cut corners somewhere since the price is so low. Wet N Wild has come a long way with their cosmetics, many people love their eyeshadows, but these lipsticks are quite good too.

These lipsticks have proper names, however the labels are only on the plastic wrap that comes with the lipsticks when you first buy them. Once you take that off, you are only left with numbers on the bottom. You can however look up the names on their website if you forget what they are called.

Here are the swatches on my arm, these are very pigmented, this is two swipes of each lipstick. The colours are gorgeous, I think these would go well on a variety of skintones. As you will see in the lip swatches below my only gripe with these is if you have dry lips (I do) any dry spots (in inside top centre for me) will show. You have to moisturize WELL with these or else you will not get a smooth application, but I find this is the case with all matte lipsticks. Also with these I get a line around my outline of my lips which isn't pretty, this isn't too visible when first applied but does show as the lipstick fades.

Bare It All (902C) is a brown nude. It looks orangey in the swatch cause of my poor camera, but it does look more brown in real life. I like this colour because it is like nothing else that I have in my collection, and is a good alternative for concealer lips.

Just Peachy (903C) is a peach pink shade. I love peach lipcolours, so I had to get this one, I think it goes well with my skintone.

Mauve Outta Here (907C) is a purple pink colour, this one applies the nicest out of the all four that I have. This really warms up the face and pops.

Think Pink (901B) is a pale barbie pink. I bought this one earlier and wrote a full review of it here. It may have been from swatching so much, but this one applied the most "dry" looking on my lips and streaky. If you like pale pinks, this is a nice one.

I like these lipsticks overall, but those with dry lips, be warned. A gloss over these would change the look from matte to something more wearable as well. The whole "mega last" thing doesn't really appeal to me anyway, but I don't feel like these last all that long.

Have you tried these? What did you think?

Review: ELF Mineral Brushes

ELF recently came out with a new line of makeup brushes, these being their mineral brushes. There are 12 different brushes, all for $5 a piece. However, you can get them for less than that, just use a coupon code, there are many available at once, best you could get 50% off mineral products and only pay $2.50 a brush. I was really excited about these brushes when they first came out, but only picked up 3 because I have TONS of brushes and primarily bought these to test them out. I picked up the powder, complexion and angled blush brush. I am a huge fan of ELF products, I've bought from them dozens of times, and this is just my honest opinion of these brushes.

Every brush in this line comes with 100% animal-free taklon bristles, recycled ferrule and sustainable bamboo handles. The bristles are quite thin and light yellow (will get dirty easily). I like this design, I think it's very Ecotools-esque, down to the brush sets with pouches. The pictures of these brushes on the website are deceiving however, especially the blush brush picture, it looks nothing like the brush, which disappointed me. The brushes came in nice plastic cases with a plastic cover on each brush, click here when I first got them. They smelled like a paint store when I got them, I washed them several times since then and it went away.

First up is the Mineral Powder brush, this is a giant ogre of a brush, compared to the Ecotools and even the Sigma F30 brush. It is also very thin and floppy, it's hard to show this without doing a video or something but you can take my word for it. This brush would only be good for loose finishing powder application in my opinion (and I have lots of brushes that already serve that function). This brush disappointed me the most of the trio that I got. It is very soft but kinda useless for me.

Next we have the ELF Mineral Angled Blush brush, I know on the website it says 'angled', but judging by the image on the ELF website (image above), I thought this brush would look completely different! It's quite small and very thin as well, compared to the Sigma F40, which is very soft and quite dense. I do not see myself using this brush very much, another disappointment.

Lastly, the ELF Complexion brush, I have better news with this one! This brush is very similar to the original ELF Studio line Complexion brush (left of it) however it is slightly more rounded paddle shape. This brush can be used for powder application, contouring and bronzer. It is still on the big side, next to the Ecotools blush brush (favourite of mine) it is much larger. However, this brush is do-able, if you don't already have the Studio line brush.

Comparing these brushes, what I did notice is how much better my Sigma Makeup brushes are, they are full and soft when I sweep them on my face compared to the ELF brushes.

I hope this helps you guys. I know everyone has different preferences but I just personally did not favour these very much. I knew it right when I first got them, and after attempting to use and adjust to them, they just aren't for me. These brushes are soft, and I appreciate their environmentally-friendly nature, but they do not perform very well because they bristles are so thin and floppy. Sorry ELF.

I am curious to know what you guys thought of these, leave me your opinions below!

Announcement: Sigma Makeup $50 Contest Ends Tonight!

Just a reminder that my Sigma Makeup contest ends October 22, 2010 that is tonight! If you haven't entered yet, and would like to, please do here. And if you've already entered, thank you to you and good luck! I will be choosing the winner shortly after verifying all the enters from the contest.

Click here to enter the contest (original post).

Review: Rimmel Smokey Brun Eyeshadow Quad

Today's review is Rimmel's Smokey Brun eyeshadow quad. It comes with 4 small squared neutral shadows (4g of product) in a plastic container with a sponge applicator. It's very simple and I was not expecting to like this because it was so cheap. But I think it's great for subtle, everyday neutral brown eyes or you can deepen it and make it more "smokey" by adding more of the dark brown shade. I can't speak for the quality of Rimmel's other eyeshadows, this is the only one I've ever used.

Here is a closer look at the shadows that you get. Top left is a shimmery brown (probably the weakest shade in the bunch see swatch below), shimmery caramel brown, pretty champagne (my favourite) and a cream highlight shade. I've used the sponge applicator, it's okay, it has a pointed end on the other side, which is nice.

Okay here I have included some swatches, the darkest brown is a tad ashy and takes a few swipes to get it to look like that, it has shimmer in it too, I wish it didn't. The caramel brown shade is pretty, no issues with this. The champagne colour is the best, I would buy this quad again and again just for this shade. It's very creamy and applies nicely on the lids, it basically matches my Urban Decay Primer Potion in sin, so it's nice to use it overtop. I think this colour is universal, and a lot of palettes have a colour like this. The cream colour is pretty nice too, I use this in the tear duct sometimes. The colours swatch nicely, but I find on the eye you need a primer to get them to show up as vibrantly and last, which I expect from drugstore shadows. In terms of fallout, I get a bit of the shimmer under my eyes, but nothing terrible.

And here it is on the eye, not the best picture, but you get the idea. I have the champagne colour on the lid and the caramel shade in the crease (mostly what shows here). It is light, not dramatic at all, but I like it.

Have you tried this quad? or any of the other Rimmel shadows?

Review: Revlon Age Defying Concealer

After trying a ton of undereye concealers, high end and drugstore, I have come to the conclusion that all concealers will crease and settle under my eyes. So now all I am seeking is a product that covers well and does not make my undereye area drier. Here comes Revlon Age Defying concealer to the rescue.This product is a moisturizing concealer that is meant to "hydrate like an eye cream" since it is the only concealer with Botafirm-infused eye cream complex. It's supposed to hydrate, restore and conceal.

I got this product about a week ago for $8 on sale at Pharma Plus in Canada, during their 30% off sale. It doesn't come in many shades, actually it comes in only four, which sucks. I got "Light" the lightest colour that they had which is quite yellow-toned. The shade works well for me thankfully. It also have SPF 25 which is great. I have tried this all over my face to conceal and it works fine for that too, the colour isn't too obvious on me. Compared to the Revlon Age Defying Spa, which is more of an illuminating concealer, this one is much more moisturizing and creamier too, which is great.

I am in love with the packaging of this, it comes in a compact squeezy tube, you can see the colour of it in the middle. It's has a turn top and pointed tip applicator, very sanitary. You have to be careful not to squeeze out too much because with this a little does a lot and when it spreads on your skin you realize you have more product than you thought.

Here is it poured onto my hand on the left and then blended on the right. The formulation is quite thick, but creamy and liquidy. This is described as a "moisturizing concealer cream" so it does have that cream texture to it, and that's why it conceals so well. It is hydrating too, you can tell the circled area on my hand is a bit more shiny looking, since I have dry skin this is important for me.

And here it is applied to my right eye, left eye on the picture. I have nothing else on my face except for eye cream. What I do is let the product sit and "settle" under my eyes for a moment and then blend it in with my ring finger or with a small concealer brush. You can go back and apply more if needed, this does not cake up.It conceals very well, is hydrating and smooth to apply.

I am loving this concealer. You can tell the red and blueness under my eyes is barely visible and neutralized. Great coverage, without being cakey. It's like a high-quality concealer for a very affordable drugstore price. I think this is the best concealer that I have ever tried! No more of this illuminating nonsense that a lot of drugstore concealers have, this stuff is the real thing, exactly what I want out of an undereye concealer. The true test was when I asked my bf if my eyes looked any different and he said that the one looked like I was punched in the face and the other one looked smooth, success! :)

I liked this concealer so much that I went out and purchased the foundation and finishing powder in this line too, so stay tuned for those reviews coming soon!

Have you tried this concealer? How did you like it?

ELF Cosmetics: New Products Announced Today

ELF Cosmetics introduced a ton of new products on their website today. I will go over all the new items here briefly and tell you what I think of them initially. All pictures were taken directly from the ELF Cosmetics 
website.

 

11 piece Studio glitter brushes $30

I think this set is great, it comes with all the Studio Line brushes (minus the new one) and has glitter on the handles! Plus it comes in a pouch which is great for travel. I love the Studio Powder brush that comes in this, it's one that I use almost everyday. With a coupon code, such as 50% off, this would be a really great buy.

Studio Mist & Set $3

This is a makeup setter spray containing Aloe, Green Tea, Cucumber, Vitamin A, C and E. I guess this is ELF's affordable attempt at MAC's Fix+. It seems interesting, and $3 is cheap for this, as long as it doesn't smell rancid, this could be good.

Studio Cream Eyeshadow Studio Matte Eyeshadow $3

The new studio cream eyeshadows come in a little pot and in four colours.These come in two types, what looks like shimmer (cream) and then matte, the matte ones have a lot more colour selection. The cream ones are currently out of stock.

 

Studio Body Glow $6

This is an all over the body golden glow powder with shimmers. It comes packaged liked the HD powder with a puff and only comes in one shade. Not really interested in this at all.

Studio Studio Angled Contour Brush $3

A new addition to the Studio Line eyeshadow brushes, this one is made of taklon anti-bacterial bristles and has that slanted shape which is great for contouring the eye. I like the look of this, but I have several brushes already with this shape too.

 

Studio Brow Brush $3

I couldn't get a clearer picture of this one, when you click on the brow brush, it takes you to a picture of the contour brush! This brush doesn't look any different than the brow brush that comes in the regular or mineral line. Pass on this, I don't use brow brushes anyhow.

 Studio Stipple Brush $3

I am excited to see how well made this brush is, it could be a flop as I have seen many dupes for this type of brush and they have been on the floppy side and unusable. But definitely curious.

Studio Tinted Moisturizer w/SPF20 $3

ELF has added a tinted moisturizer to their line, which is great. This is described as lightweight and hydrating, even skin tone with a hint of colour and sun protection. This is the product I was most excited about, however it's sold out at the moment too.

Studio Lip color applicators $3

These are disposable applicators for lipgloss, it comes in a pack of 12. I think this is interesting for on the go or to throw in your purse, but I doubt I will be buying this. Not a fan of one-use product that you throw away after use.

 Studio Eyeshadow color applicators $3

Another one of those disposable type applicators, this one is for eyeshadow application. These come in a pack of 12 as well.

What products interest you?